The Japanese Government has moved to introduce a new secrecy law that would stiffen punishments for people who give away state secrets.

The new law would dramatically expand the definition of official secrets and journalists convicted under it could be jailed for up to five years.

A draft of the secrecy bill was approved by Japan's cabinet on Friday and is expected to be passed by parliament in the current session.

Public servants who give away state secrets could be jailed for up to 10 years. The present maximum is one.

Information related to defence, diplomacy, counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism will all be classified as a state secret, the bill says.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the new law is vital to his plan to set up a US-style National Security Council to oversee security policies and coordinate among ministries.

Several dozen protesters gathered outside Mr Abe's official residence on Friday in a last-minute appeal against the move.

Critics say there are parallels between the bill and Mr Abe's conservative agenda that includes a stronger military and recasting Japan's wartime history with a less apologetic tone.

They say if enacted, the law will impinge on the transparency of an already opaque government and will be open to abuse. They also fear the law could see reporters jailed for doing their job.

"We are resolutely against this bill. You could be subject to punishments just by revealing what needs to be revealed to the public," one of the protesters said.

Media watchdogs fear the law would seriously hobble journalists' ability to investigate official misdeeds and blunders, including the collusion between regulators and utilities that led to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga has brushed off such concerns, saying "usual news gathering activities by news organisations" are not the intended target of the bill.

It comes amid a worldwide debate over government secrecy in the wake of the Edward Snowden affair, which on Thursday saw the US ambassador to Germany summoned after claims Washington was spying on Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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